"That's the next step in my life," the 45-year-old tells USA Today. "Definitely within the next two years. I thought by now I'd have three grown children."

Age is not a factor, either, given fertility options. "With modern medicine, people are having kids in their 40s and even up until their late 40s. In their 50s, they're having their second child," she says. "If it doesn't happen naturally like that, I would always consider adopting."

Restaurateur J.T. Torregiani, 32, Abdul's boyfriend of five months, would likely be the proud papa. "He's a sweetie pie," Abdul says of the Sicilian, whom she met when he introduced himself to her after a taping of her show in April.

"He's a positive force that has come into my life right now. Where it leads, who knows?" As for her fellow judge, Simon Cowell, assessing the new man in her life, Abdul quotes the sharp-tongued one as saying: "He's a great, normal guy – why does he like you?"

Others approve of Torregiani, too. "My chunky dog, Tulip, is in love with him. He pays so much attention to her that she thinks she's the queen," says Abdul, who's already been with her beau to London and plans to go with him to Italy. When it came to her Idol costars, however, "I was so adamant about not letting Simon or Randy [Jackson] or Ryan [Seacrest] know – and that was a good thing," she says.

Asked if she were in love, Abdul (who had two brief marriages in the 1990s, to Emilio Estevez and Brad Beckerman) responds with a smile: "I'm in a good place in my heart. He's like my best friend."